Leadership Journal

My first crack at shepherding a congregation came during seminary days when a group of twenty families, ranchers and farmers living on the Kansas-Colorado border, offered a parsonage and a small paycheck if I would be their pulpit-guy. My wife, Gail, and I enthusiastically entered the rural culture to serve the people. They taught us much, and we loved them in return.

A few months into this experience, the deacons convened a meeting to resolve a business issue. I can't remember the subject matter, but I do recall that people I really cared for began to say things to each other that left Gail and me devastated. It was like being parents of children fighting in the back seat. It sounds prideful, but we couldn't believe that people under our ministry influence could act so unpleasantly.

After the meeting, a women approached Gail and me to say, "Now you know who we really are. And some day you'll be just like us."

Gail responded, "No! We'll never allow ourselves to become like that." A bold assertion, of course; but we were young and self-confident.

Several times in my years of ministry I have seen repeat performances of that evening. And each time I have struggled with the same disappointment.

My go-to Bible story in such moments is Moses, coming down from Mount Sinai to find the children of Israel (brats might be a better word) dancing around a golden calf with his brother Aaron's fingerprints all over it.

Up on the mountaintop Moses had been as close to God as you can get, and now he re-entered a world below (which is the "real world"?) where people couldn't sustain even a few days of faithfulness on their own.

We have to admit that in the process of leadership there are moments of extreme disappointment and disillusionment when people we lead utterly fail to live up to expectations. Most of my own writings have been upon the failures of leaders (and especially my own). But there is a time to ask: what does the leader do when the people fail?

On such occasions it is wise for the leader to begin by contemplating how earlier leaders coped. I am not speaking of their organizational problem-solving methods. I'm talking about how they resolved the anger, discouragement, or blaming spirit that threatened to overwhelm their own souls. That's how Moses became my main man for low-end times.

When you read the stories of Moses and Israel, you have to marvel at the defiant, complaining, unappreciative ways of the Hebrews and ask yourself why (or how) Moses ever stuck with them.

Knowing myself, I would have been tempted to resign and send resumes to the Amorites, Jebusites, or other local "ites." Anyone else need a liberator?

What I never appreciated until recently was the significance of Israel being a community of ex-slaves with all the attitudes and default behaviors that result from 400 years of oppression. As many years as I have known their story, it never occurred to me that when one generation after another has been denied essential human rights and lost its dignity, such people will become seriously impaired in their ability to make decisions, be loyal, trust leaders, hope for tomorrow, or even get along with each other.

PAGE 1 of 6